An Italian place, of sorts. Most
Trolleyers are tired of their pizza, so they go to Grotto's or someplace nearby
in Little Italy.

But Mr. V likes their pizzas, and so do I.

I’ve branched out a little bit more than he
has.

It’s on the corner, almost
like the famous Flatiron building in Chicago, though not nearly as cool. Walking
distance, which helps when you’re carrying a hot pie home –

not a girl from the bar, mind
you.

Dirty minds.

Or just mine, but nevermind
that.

I’ve tried, and really loved,
their side of meatballs, and their Italian hoagie sandwich.

Mr. V orders a Canadian bacon
and pineapple pizza with extra cheese, large.

It smells good, it looks good,
it looks like a greasy pizza that you should be eating on Sundays, or long days
after work, or just when-the-eff-ever, because yum.

I love their crust, and find myself eating all
of Mr. V’s.

A tid bit about him and his
crusts – he won’t eat them because they fill him up, and he wants to eat the “good
stuff” first.

And their ham is sliced ham,
not cubed – to which Mr. V feels that “cubed” is cheaper.

Psychological, but nonetheless
yummy.

I’ve also had their mozzarella
and pepper salad, which is simple, probably not something I may order again,
but their mozzarella is pretty good.

It’s fresh, you get hunks, and
a little heavy.

Not creamy, melt in your
mouth, but I find that I don’t really want that from my fast(er) pizza joint. Do
you?

Everything is supposed to melt
anyway from the heat.

And probably the best part
about it is what Mr. V has to say: it’s good for the money, they have good
ingredients, they don’t skim on toppings, and something he really liked: They
barely have turnover, if any at all, which means his pizzas are always well
handled and they know his order.

Mr. V has a memorable
presence.

They also are willing to accommodate
requests, and not hassle you about it – which is something Café Verde is not
willing to do.

This place, hidden on the
backside of the square, facing the weird park thing behind the never-finished
building, is a joy.

The menu is giant – though most
Chinese places have giant menus.

They have heavy, they have
light, they have spicy, they have medium, they have “coward” flavors.

They have small and large
portions. They’re flavored well, spiced to my liking.

Mr. V orders lo mein, sweet
and sour pork (or chicken), fried scallops, broccoli beef – a lot of times at
the same time, sometimes with other things.

If you haven’t figured it out
yet, he eats A lot.

And keeps going back, and
back.

Sometimes we get a movie from
the Redbox right around the corner while we wait for our order.

He has his specific feelings
about when you order a vegetable dish with meat –

you tend to get a lot more
vegetables than meat, though I would counter that this isn’t such a bad thing.

And then the difference
between low mein and chow mein –

chow mein doesn’t have the
crispy noodles that one would normally think, but maybe that’s not done correctly
even in the first place.

Nevertheless, the chow mein is
vegetables with a separate package of fried noodles that I imagine are meant to
put in it to soggify them. B

ut these strange sides come with
the soups as well, which I don’t use.

I LOVE this place in the later
autumn/winter time, because I have found that their soups heal the dead. I swear,
if I were a zombie and I ate their Hot & Sour soup, I would come back to
life.

I really, really like their
soups –

to me, they are the Asian version of chicken
noodle soup or Matzo ball soup,

the make-me-feel-better soups
that they used before 1900 to heal the sick.

I like the value, I like the
amount of food, and it doesn’t feel like the greasy Chinese food one would normally
get at fast(er) food places, though of course, it’s not as good as a sit-down restaurant.

I like that the girls behind the counter can
remember our orders and the orders of the people behind us without writing it
down, she just shouts to the guys at the woks, who remember it just as well.

Again, with the low turnover,
so maybe it’s just memory of us customers.

I kinda wish they had some…other…types
of food- like different parts of the animals-

but nevertheless, they do what
they do have well.

Now I want some Hot and Sour
soup.

Hmmm.

___

I’ve been to these places my
fair share of times, and continue to go back to them.

While I am an adventurer
by nature, I’m also a creature of habit when I find something I like, love,
enjoy, happy with.

Out of the three, I’d choose
Hong Kong because of the comfort from the warmth of the soups.